FAQ: The Exhaust Thread

nobody interested in a "baffle"header design?

For those of you looking for close to no sound, you'd have to go with just a cheap turbo or factory muffler. All the "good" turbo mufflers are fairly loud. Don't remove the resonator, and don't remove the cat, otherwise you will get the raspy sound that you don't like. Or, just make an entire exhaust system made out of resonators and clamps......

robotennis61 wrote:

nobody interested in a "baffle"header design?

id like to see pics...

Abaddon wrote:

For those of you looking for close to no sound, you'd have to go with just a cheap turbo or factory muffler. All the "good" turbo mufflers are fairly loud. Don't remove the resonator, and don't remove the cat, otherwise you will get the raspy sound that you don't like. Or, just make an entire exhaust system made out of resonators and clamps......

I guess that's been the solution I've been looking for all along....Excellent. Now I need to do some measuring.

Anybody know anything about the ZZP powerlogs? Do they work???

Abaddon wrote:

Anybody know anything about the ZZP powerlogs? Do they work???

Yes, but the consensus is that with the money you usually spend on them you can get headers for just a little more (SSACs).

I heard the SSAC's were garbage but that was from another car forum for another car. I don't think you can beat the price but does anyone here have first hand experience with a set of them? Do they fit our cars well?

http://www.ssautochrome.com/level.itml/icOid/1886

I have first hand experience and recommend them to anyone on a budget. They fit our cars. Just order for the Regal, Grand Prix, etc.
I purchased a set last year and inspected the set i got very closely and was very satisfied. They did not need any work prior to install. They are very well made. from what i understand some of the earlier ones they made were sub-par. But that was a few years ago.
I chose to wrap the headers, crossover pipe and the down pipe (flex pipe) that came with them in Header Wrap and am glad I did, as they are so quiet, you would not know i have headers on it. I found 100 ft Kit of Header Wrap, Stainless clamps and a can of spray for $50.00 on Ebay - shipped. Well worth it. I used almost the whole amount of wrap and the whole can of spray using multiple light coats. If you decide to wrap them, pm me and I'll give some pointers.
I also changed the Cat Converter to a 3" Cat from ZZP at the the time and replaced my original cat. With just those changes, you can't hear any difference from stock but can feel the difference.
It is a prerequisite to other mod's including installing a smaller pulley.
I still didn'r install a smaller pulley until i installed 1.9 rockers and springs, etc.

Wow, thanks for the info Rick. I'll have to seriously consider these then. I plan on doing some mods. Already have a 3.4 pulley in my possession.

I might just have them ceramic coated if I do get them. I hear that isn't horribly expensive and worth the money.

Don't need to Ceramic coat unless you are going to enter the car in shows or you have a bunch of money to spend.
I added some info to my post above about wrapping them.

I hope I'm not totally remembering this wrong because sometimes stuff gets fuzzy after a while but I thought someone said that the type of stainless that SSAC headers use isn't the best for ceramic coating. It's polished 321 or 304, not the 409 that all the ceramic coated headers seem to be.

Anyway, my experience with these headers is same as Rick. They are the way to go for affordable headers.

Rick, did you install the downpipe flex section as is or did you do anything with that? Does it tick or anything? compared to reports of ticking from SLP's?

I installed the flex pipe that came with the headers, but wrapped it along with the headers and do not have any noise.
Even the Deekster, who has done some tuning on my car, commented on how quiet the headers and downpipe are on my car compared to his, which is not wrapped.

I didn't get a chance to wrap my headers prior to installing them and have regretted it ever since.I want to wrap the crossover pipe,rear header and all the way past the flex joint when I get around to pulling them back off.Maybe I should just wrap the flex joint portion since my headers are ceramic coated.

sounds good. have you ever wrapped headers before? if not,make sure you soak the wrap in water and wear a junk long sleeve shirt. otherwise you'll be itching for days...

That is about the only thing i can say for wrapping headers also. Is to put the roll in a bucket of water, let it get saturated with water and take your time wrapping the headers and start a tube by clamping with a hose clamp.
(so have on hand a number of hose clamps to use temporarily while wrapping wet fiberglass material.) Also have sharp scissors on hand to cut it with. Do a neat overlap of about one half to one inch and you will get good results.
Where you can't wrap at certain overlaps and in the tight joints don't worry about it. The point is to get at least 90% or a little more wrapped and you will have noise free and a longer lasting set of headers.
Let it dry and then remove the hose clamps and put on the stainless header clamps that come with it or purchase separately. They are thin and once tightened down over dry header wrap, you'll never have any wrap fraying or falling off.
I have wrapped numerous sets of Auto and Motorcycle Headers this way and have had good luck.
Just remember once dry (2 to 3 days) And you must be patient and let it dry. Will dry quicker down south in the sun, then spray the coating on sparingly and let dry before coats. I like 2 to 3 coats to penetrate the wrap completely.
So, from what you have read so far you should know that you need several days before you plan on installing the headers if you want to do it right.
Good Luck and once you have started the car up, expect to smell this for a couple of
days, nothing too bad, just a heads up.

Ok.Thanks for the info about wrapping the headers up.I don't know when I'm gonna get around to doing that over.maybe I will just do the flex joint b/c that's where I think the noise is originating from.

I header-wrapped the flex joint and copper RTV'd it, same as what AA did with his SLP's. Winter is over and it still looks excellent and noise free. I left my headers unwrapped.

Kool turtleman!I will be doing that as soon as I can.Right now I'm still running through the stock mufflers out back.I'm trying to decide between one long 3" glasspack type muffler then straight pipes out the rear w/nice tips or 3" pipe back to a 2.5" "Y" pipe into 2 nice ss mufflers w/nice tips out the back.What do you guys think about a single 3" taipipe out the back after the glasspack like the camaro's had sometimes w/the slp kit that they had available back then?

crlombardi69 wrote:

Kool turtleman!I will be doing that as soon as I can.Right now I'm still running through the stock mufflers out back.I'm trying to decide between one long 3" glasspack type muffler then straight pipes out the rear w/nice tips or 3" pipe back to a 2.5" "Y" pipe into 2 nice ss mufflers w/nice tips out the back.What do you guys think about a single 3" taipipe out the back after the glasspack like the camaro's had sometimes w/the slp kit that they had available back then?

From what I've heard about the single 3" pipe out the back.
They are very loud and produce a lot of Droan during cruising RPM's on the road.
But if anybody can answer from first hand knowledge it would be the Turtle. I think he's tried almost every combination of exhaust pieces than anyone else on here.

I'm waiting for him to try the latest and greatest mufflers he mentioned a little while back.
If he gives a good report on those, I'm going to try a pair with some nice tips I've had sitting here waiting to be welded to the right mufflers.

That's what I was waiting for was another member to enlighten us on the next best thing!I have been able to get so much valuable knowledge here in this forum.I pretty much bought my riv then found this forum,did a whole lot of reading(of previous threads)and then put a plan together using all of the members experiences with they're cars.I really am happy running through the stock mufflers though I do think that they are a little restricted and to quiet for my tastes.I just don't have the $ to spend on the rest of the system that I really want.

It can get very expensive experimenting with various parts, pieces, diameters, etc. Having pipes custom bent and so on.
I added Headers and a 3"High Flow Magnaflow Cat, welded to the stock system and noticed no real change in sound but did get a little more power from the headers.
I've been wanting to do something different with the rest of the exhaust, but have not come to a conclusion after many hours of researching.
I'm not in a position right now to piss money away on experimenting with various products.
If I worked at an Auto Parts store and could get things at cost or a deep discount, I'm sure I would be playing around.

I have a commercial account available to me at NAPA and they have a 3" thrush glasspack w/20" body for pretty cheap.I was gonna run that on the end of my 3" run off the headers and then "Y" into 2.5" tails w/aftermarket grand prix type tips.Then if it is to loud I will put two small bullet style resonators where the stock mufflers were originally!What do you think rick?I have a similar set-up engine wise as you have pretty much.

crlombardi69 wrote:

That's what I was waiting for was another member to enlighten us on the next best thing!I have been able to get so much valuable knowledge here in this forum.I pretty much bought my riv then found this forum,did a whole lot of reading(of previous threads)and then put a plan together using all of the members experiences with they're cars.I really am happy running through the stock mufflers though I do think that they are a little restricted and to quiet for my tastes.I just don't have the $ to spend on the rest of the system that I really want.

I've had essentially the same experience. I bought my Riv without knowing there was any 3800 performance products available for the Riviera. I thought it was all for the GP's, etc.
Then I found this site, through ewolfe, and the modding began. Slowly have been buying parts in what I think are the right order so as not to destroy my engine.
Since being on here I have met deekster_caddy (Derek) that doesn't live too far away and he has been a tremendous help with tuning my PCM and keeping my engine safe.
But I am now where I was in the beginning. There is always more you want to do because after driving the car with this amount of mod's, you start to think the car is loosing power over time. It isn't, but just needs more mod's. More money and keep on going.